September 18 Crowd Reacts

Let's take you back to September 18, 1930 at  Sportsman Park in St Louis where the Yankees are trailing theBrowns in the 7th inning. What happened next made sports history and we are going remember it in this episode...right after this.

September 18, 1930 - Sportsman's Park, St. Louis. MO - The New York Yankees had traveled to the midwest to play the St. Louis Browns. The Yankees roster was as always brimming with talent, but they were trailing the Philadelphia Athletics in the standings by double digit games.

The star studded Yankees lineup included future Hall of Fame players like Babe Ruth, Earle Combs, Lou Gehrig, and Left Gomez among others. Another of these Yanks that would someday end up in the Cooperstown Museum was pitcher Charles "Red" Ruffing. Ruffing an Illinois native, sported the name Red due to his vibrant auburn hair color. He was originally contracted by the Boston Red Sox organization, and became the club's top pitcher. Known as an "inning eater" at one of the poorest times in Red Sox history, the franchise soon made a deal with their AL rivals the Yankees. 

The Sox traded the 25-year-old Ruffing to the Yankees for a backup outfielder, named Cedric Durst plus $50,000 along with an alleged additional $50,000 loan from Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert.  The New York Times, offered little space for the trade story describing Ruffing as “an in-and-outer.”

This move to the Big Apple though changed the trajectory of Ruffing’s career. A SABR.org post on Red Ruffing says,

"The turnaround in his fortunes began the first time he took the mound for New York, when Babe Ruth slammed a first-inning home run. Ruffing gave up six runs to the Tigers, but knocked in the deciding runs himself with a single and two RBIs. Late in the season he won six straight decisions. He sealed his place on the team with a two-hit shutout over the pennant-bound Philadelphia Athletics in September."

It was during this September run, that the Yankees traveled to play the Browns. Red Ruffing only made it into the seventh inning as the Browns scored five runs off his pitching. However before he left the game Ruffing hit 2 HRs to help defeat St Louis Browns, 7-6. The crowd in St. Louis I am sure was not roaring with excitement, but back in New York folks listening to the game on their radios and those reading the newspaper clippings like the one below were reacting with enthusiasm.

SABR.org goes on to tell us, "He finished 1930 with a 15-5 record for the Yankees; his 4.14 ERA was better than average in the Year of the Hitter. He also batted a career-high .364 with four homers"

The article from back in time...

19 Sep 1930, Fri Rutland Daily Herald (Rutland, Vermont) Newspapers.com

The banner photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of Ruffing, Boston, 1924 from the National Photo Company

A Very Special thanks to information obtained from SABR.org, Newspapers.com and OnThisDay.com